The Practice of Deference and Its Politics: Theravada Buddhist Beliefs and Hierarchical Dynamism in China’s Southwest Border Areas

Dax Mao, a Wa orator in his early 70s, expressed mixed feelings about the mainstream dismissal of his religious knowledge as he accompanied a group of senior Wa Buddhists to a funeral ritual that commemorated the death of a charismatic Wa orator. The event took place at Cangyuan, the seat of the Autonomous County of Cangyuan, Wa Nationality (hereafter, Cangyuan Autonomous County) on China’s southwest border.